Volume 3, Chapter 84 – You’d Better Not Be Lying To Me

“Why did you suddenly choose to withdraw the army? Fuyi, even if you are a Shaman, if you retreat without any reason, then I can punish you directly… even if that being thinks very highly of you…”

The Beastmen army’s sudden retreat not only left Tianyin’s side completely baffled, even the Beastmen leadership in the Stronghold’s rear lines were filled with doubt.

A few days later, in the main hall of the Stronghold’s capital city, the one who had started it all, the Beastmen Shaman Fuyi, was publicly called to account before all the Beastmen.

“To abandon three hundred thousand of our kin just like that, Fuyi, even if that being values you greatly, you still have to bear the crime of fleeing the battlefield. There has to be an explanation for this matter!”

Indeed, as a Shaman, Fuyi’s status was exalted.

However, suddenly leading the Beastmen reinforcements that had been sent to help and then fleeing in a panic, in the eyes of the Beastmen, was no different from deserting in the midst of battle.

And a Beastman who deserts in battle, even if he is a Shaman, must still be held responsible.

The aged Beastmen King’s gaze was icy. Fuyi’s actions were already a disguised defiance of his orders, so this time, even if Fuyi had that being’s guarantee, he still intended to properly punish this legendary Shaman.

“My King, the reason I withdrew the army was not because I fled the battlefield. There was in fact a reason…”

Fuyi spoke unhurriedly. As a Shaman, he had excellent self control, so even as he faced this public questioning from the Beastmen high command, he still appeared very calm.

“A reason? Ridiculous. Since when did deserting the battlefield come with a reason? To me, this is exactly that, deserting in battle.”

“How laughable. Just because of some so-called reason, you decided to abandon three hundred thousand Beastmen kin? Someone like you deserves the title of Shaman?”

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Even without the Beastmen King’s scolding, the other Beastmen leaders present all started to berate this high status Shaman one after another.

“Enough!”

After listening to the others scolding Fuyi for quite some time, the Beastmen King suddenly spoke, cutting off the clamor in the hall.

“Fuyi, since you say there is a reason, then tell me what made you abandon three hundred thousand of your kin and flee in such a panic?”

“My King…”

Hearing the question, the Beastmen Shaman slowly lowered his head.

“Our enemy is no longer the Kingdom… but another mysterious, unknown force. It was precisely because I sensed this that I suggested we withdraw the troops…”

“A mysterious force?”

The Beastmen King’s brows knitted slightly.

“Just because of that? Even if you are a Shaman, with just your one-sided claim, there is no way to prove whether what you say is true.”

“If that is your reason, then next I will carry out the appropriate punishment for your act of deserting the battlefield.”

“My King… what I said is truly the truth… I can swear in the name of the Ancestral Totem. If I am speaking a false lie, then let the ancestors judge me.”

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Ancestral Totem.

It was much like the gods of faith that Humanity believed in. Among the Beastmen, the ancestors existed in the same way, and the Ancestral Totem was the object originally worshipped in Beastmen rituals. Not only that, the Beastmen’s Ancestral Totem possessed an extraordinarily mysterious power.

One of those powers was that it could be used for oaths.

When a Beastman swore in the name of the Ancestral Totem, if that Beastman then betrayed the content of the oath, he would suffer punishment beyond imagination.

Moreover, if the one swearing was a Beastman Shaman, then not only that, when the Shaman who had sworn broke the oath, in addition to being punished, he would completely lose his Shaman abilities.

It could be said that by bringing out the Ancestral Totem, Fuyi’s attitude was already very clear.

“Since you have gone that far… then most likely that unknown force really does exist… but, if you are choosing to run away just because of an unknown force, Fuyi, I can still accuse you on that point.”

Since Fuyi was already taking out the Ancestral Totem to swear, the Beastmen King would have to be utterly foolish to keep doubting his explanation.

However, just as he had said, if Fuyi shrank back just because of an unknown force, then someone like that was far too disappointing.

“No… my King, I did not choose to retreat because I was afraid. I wanted to preserve the Beastmen’s living strength…”

“Oh? Go on.”

Watching Fuyi’s serious explanation, the Beastmen King felt a faint stir of interest.

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“My King, as a Beastman, it is not that I lack the courage to charge forward without fear, but there are times when we have to look at war with a clear head. When the difference in strength is far too great, I do not believe we should send our kin to die for nothing…”

“So what you mean is that my order was to send those Beastmen to their deaths?”

The old Beastmen King’s eyes gradually grew dangerous. Even if he admitted there was some truth in Fuyi’s words, pointing out like this in disguise that his own order was just a pure death sentence was something that, as the Beastmen King, he could not accept in terms of pride.

“No… my King, your decision was correct. For the sake of the Beastmen, you can be said to have exhausted your mind and strength. But the development of the world often holds the possibility within the impossible, what people call a variable. Under such a correct decision, we encountered a very rare variable…”

“And this variable is what caused your originally flawless decision to become a wrong one, and what should have been a victorious result became a crushing defeat under the influence of that variable.”

“So… because I sensed that there was a variable within that unknown force that would affect our plan to seize the Northern Fortress, I chose to retreat…”

After hearing Fuyi out, the old Beastmen King slowly closed his eyes.

“Shaman Fuyi, that is your reason?”

“If there is a variable, then tell me how we should deal with it.”

Fuyi slowly lifted his lowered head, looking toward the one seated upon the throne, the lofty yet already aged Beastmen King.

“My King, the way to deal with it is actually very clear.”

“We only need to invite my master out, the Stronghold’s Guardian Deity.”

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The master Fuyi spoke of, the Stronghold’s Guardian Deity, was in fact the Beastmen elder Shaman of Throne-class rank who had joined the encirclement and suppression of the Undead Overlord Sargus before, representing the Stronghold.

Within the Stronghold, this Beastmen elder Shaman also had another title.

Prophet.

“Let that being take the field? Fuyi, you are being a bit too cautious. Even if that force is unknown, asking Lord Prophet to act is making way too big a deal out of it.”

“No, my King… it is not exaggerated at all…”

Fuyi shook his head, his face utterly serious.

“That unknown force may be weak in overall strength, but when it comes to top end power… I can swear in the name of the Ancestral Totem that they possess a Throne-class existence…”

“Throne-class!?”

The old Beastmen King slowly opened his closed eyes.

“You had better not be lying to me.”